Cocoanut Grove Jazz Night: Not Just Nostalgia : Jazz: The Japanese-backed concert featuring Lee Ritenour was taped for the international market in jazz laserdiscs.

Jazz at the Cocoanut Grove? Sounds like something out of the Twilight Zone. But there it was, a full-fledged jazz concert featuring Lee Ritenour, Bob James, Ernie Watts, Tuck & Patti and a host of others.

As a matter of fact, if the recent news reports about Donald Trump buying the Ambassador Hotel are true, he should have been at the establishment’s venerable old nightclub Friday night. Had he seen it overflowing with people, its lights flashing, the bandstand full of musicians, he might have thought better of his plans to tear down the Wilshire Boulevard landmark.

Why all the activity? Why such energetic goings-on in a room that long ago passed into the folklore of Los Angeles night life? Simple--for a videotaping of guitarist Lee Ritenour and a cluster of guest stars for a Japanese production company. Although the hotel has been shut down, its empty hallways eerily reminiscent of a scene from “The Shining,” the Cocoanut Grove has continued active as a location for various production activities.

Somewhat more surprisingly, the large-scale production--with 48-track digital sound, seven cameras and an invited audience of 400--was at the service of a jazz artist, and it’s no accident that financing was provided by a Tokyo company named VideoArts, Japan.

“I think if it wasn’t for Japan,” explained director/producer Stanley Dorfman (whose music television credits reach from Duke Ellington to The Kinks), “jazz would be in a sorry state. I was absolutely astounded recently when I discovered a store in Tokyo that sells only jazz videos. There’s a huge market for the music in Japan.”

In fact, it’s almost inconceivable that an effort of this magnitude--costing more than $100,000 to produce material for two laser disc programs--could have been done without some sort of international, and most likely Japanese, backing.

Hisao Ebine, managing director of VideoArts Japan, seemed comfortable with the production’s profit-making potential--but only so long as the Japanese market was included in the mix.

“It would be very difficult,” he said, “to produce this kind of programming only for the United States. We feel we have to distribute it in Japan as well as the United States and the rest of the world to make it profitable.”

VideoArts Japan releases its jazz product primarily on laserdisc, with videotape as a less important medium. The production, with its state-of-the-art digital audio and multiple cameras, clearly reflected a desire to create a product that met the high technical standards of the laserdisc medium.

“Actually, laserdisc jazz programs are increasing,” said co- producer Deborah Hay of Visual Eyes, the company that provided the technical support. “The reason, I think, is because there is no jazz video station--no MTV jazz. And the audience, which is very different from the rock audience, is much more sophisticated, much more attuned to the higher quality of listening and viewing that you can get from lasers.”

The program seemed designed visually and aurally to display Ritenour’s highly eclectic musical interests. An opening set featured the guitarist in three mainstream jazz improvisations with the able assistance of tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts, pianist Alan Broadbent, drummer Harvey Mason and bassist Brian Bromberg.

Ritenour played such straight- ahead pieces as “Stolen Moments” with enthusiasm and verve, but the real musical highlights were provided by Broadbent’s stunning bebop lines and Bromberg’s remarkable technical wizardry.

The Tuck & Patti set that followed was warm and intimate, as Ritenour joined the gifted duo for a few moments of beautifully understated vocal jazz.

Ritenour’s regular band, featuring vocalist Phil Perry and supplemented by pianist Bob James, played next, attractively showcasing the kind of blues-based, fusion-style originals that are the meat and potatoes of the guitarist’s style.

The highlight of the evening, however, came with the arrival of Brazilians Joao Bosco and Paulinho Da Costa. Ritenour’s great affection for the music of Brazil blended perfectly with the extraordinary verve and sparkle of the Latin players. It was a moment when the music, the location and the audience all seemed to come into perfect performance synchronization.

Unfortunately, what followed was anticlimactic, and the program ended with a bang rather than a smile. Guitarist Steve Lukather (of Toto) cranked up the speakers and drew Ritenour into an overheated exchange that had little to do with the preceding music. Another facet of Ritenour’s style, but hardly needed to prove his versatility.

Despite its final sputtering moments, the evening was a musical as well as a technical success. Whether it will achieve commercial prosperity remains to be seen. Producer/director Dorfman took a measured view.

“The last jazz video we did, with Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour, was released here in several formats,” he recalled. “And that’s to the good. But I’m still trying to get someone to televise the thing. No matter how good the music is, it’s just so tough to get jazz aired in America.”